Censorship in Troy, New York: an interview with Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal

The Arts Department suggested that the FBI had contacted the school administration, whereas in fact the FBI said that Bilal was not a person of interest. When the show was moved off-campus to the Sanctuary for Independent Media, Mirch had the show permanently closed based on code violations.

The intention of the video piece is to show the effects of the US occupation on ordinary Iraqis. Hacking the code of a real video game, Bilal creates a fictional version in which he inserts himself as a suicide bomber on a quest to assassinate US president George W. Bush after his brother is killed by US occupation forces.

This artwork is meant to bring attention to the vulnerability of Iraqi civilians, to the travesties of the current war, and to expose racist generalizations and profiling, Bilal explains on his website. Similar games such as Quest for Saddam or Americas Army promote stereotypical, singular perspectives. My artwork inverts these assumptions, and ultimately demonstrates the vulnerability to recruitment by violent groups like Al Qaeda because of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.